Hi people, I have not yet managed to get Dune2k working on my system and this is anothjer problem and another story, however, I can shed some light on the slow performance problems you may be having. Firstly, it is a matter of elimination. I have had this problem for some time and have now come to the conclusion that the game I am trying to paly in linking, quite simply, to a slow or overloaded server, which is something I can nothing about. however in the mean time I have been through many different optimisation techniques to try to stop the lagging problem. I am a systems & network engineer with 30 years experience, by the way. I will give you instructions to help you make your system run more smoothly, but cannot put any guarantee or warranty on these instructions. It is your choice to follow me. Each thing to do here should be done on it's own, with nothing else running. You should, if possible, print these instructions and disconnect from the internet completely. Disable your anti virus and spyware software and disable the firewall. Firstly, Andrew above mentioned using ccleaner. This is a good step. It is free. Just make sure you download it from a reliable source. Run it, let it clean everything. You will lose your internet history and saved passwords and stuff, but don't worry for now. Re-start the computer, properly, not just into hibernation or something, then go into control panel and uninstall anything you can. This is your choice here, but get rid of any stuff you don't really want or use. Next step, press Windows key and the 'Pause/Break' key to enter the system properties. You can go to the properties of 'Computer' or access this in control panel. In the advanced system settings, youn will find an option to adjust the performance of the system. Go the the advanced part of this and you will be able to check that the processor scheduling is set for programs. If it is not, then select this option. Click on the change button for the virtual memory and turn this off. This is temporary, dont worry. You will be truning it back on again. It is pretty much essential, but for now leave it off and okay yourself out. Open Windows Explorer (my computer) and check to make sure there is NOT a file called 'pagefile.sys' in the root of any drive (C: D: etc). Press Windows key and 'R'. Type 'cleanmgr' and run this once on each drive letter. Locate the command prompt option in the menu. It is in accessories and run it with administrator privileges. Type 'sfc' at the prompt and run this with the scannow switch. Type, 'sfc /scannow'. Open Windows Explorer. go to the properties of each drive and use the built-in tool to defragment the drive. Ensure the recycle bin is empty and run ccleaner again. Of course, you may have a licenced, paid for program that does the same as ccleaner, like Ashampoo Wincleaner, as I do. It doesn't really matter. Just as long as you are using something you trust here. Re-start the computer. Turn the virtual memory on again. Set it to be Custom managed and set it to the size recommended. Mine is about 5.8GB. Set this for the initial and maximum size. This will ensure the system page file never gets fragmented and is the best option. You have pretty much done what you can now, without re-installing. ----- TESTING IT ----- If you have a spare USB port and a spare 4GB (best) USB memory card and are running Windows 7, then put this in and set the system to us this as extra virtual memory. Go to the properties of this drive in Windows Explorer and select the 'ReadyBoost' tab. Select 'Use this device' and turn the slider up to the maximum you can. If you don't have Windows 7, then you cannot do this. Whichever brand of internet browser you are using, you need to eliminate this as a cause. If you are using IE, upgrade to version 9 and run it with all add-ons disabled. Note the difference, if there is one, in how the things you were trying to do on the interent before you carried out any of the above. I also tested by going to a friend house and testing on there interent connection. Of couse, you need to make sure there is no-one else using the internet when testing. You could check out the interenet respone with speedtest.net, but remember your computer's responsiveness and the speed of access to the internet are two different things and rely on different things. ----- OTHER INFORMATION ----- If you think you have a problem with the hard drive, then you should start by backing up anything and everything you don't want to lose. You should then carry out a check of the disk. Open an administrative command prompt again and type, 'chkdsk c: /f', where C: is the system drive of your computer. It should be. You will be told that the system cannot get exclusive access to the drive and prompt you to set it to run on the next re-boot. Press 'Y' and close down everything and re-boot. The check disk program will run before the system starts up. If you have other drives. These will not be system drives and can be checked without closing down. A word on Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). The manufacturers of these give them a 3 year warranty as a minimum. They are mechanical but they are very reliable and this is why the manufacturers are happy to give them a 3 year warranty. They can, without the printed circuit board on them of course, withstand about 250 times the force of gravity when not being used, without damage and about 25 times the force of gravity whilst in use and being accessed. Your problems are more likely to be caused by the things you have loaded, that are consuming CPU cycles from boot time. Your problems with the interent are cause by the speed you are paying for. The quality of the service. The time of day you are using it. The most popular times are going to be slower. You will be sharing your local connect with 20-50 other subscribers. The quality of the hosting service where the server you are trying to access is stored. The distance from you this server is located. And many, many other reasons, too numerous and maybe to complicated to go into. If you are overclocking your CPU. you could have damaged it. Running it too fast can cause damage, but luckily this damage is easier to diagnose. If your computer crashes on start up and very soon afterwards it could be this. If it slows down and/or crashes a little while after startup, then this could be a problem with cooling. Don't run it sitting on your lap of on a carpet, table cloth, etc. Put a cool metal plate under it. a plastic cutting board or large placemat. If it is a desktop or tower, then make sure there are no open adaptor slots in the rear and these affect the air flow and can cause overheating internally. ----- FINISHING OFF ----- So you have cleaned the system, deleted files and programs. checked for errors. Taken note of the hardware information above and tested the system at home and somewhere else and with an alternate browser. Ensure you have turned the anti virus and spyware programs on again. You don't actually need the system firewall on as the broadband router has a hardware one. As long as this is configured correctly it will do a better job than the built-in Microsoft software firewall anyway. If you want then both on, however, just turn it on. It is your choice after all. Finally, we haven't yet talked about the services, drivers, programs and processes running. I will go through this another time. I hope this helps and gives me credit to ask if asnyone has actually got Dune2k working on Windows 7 or Vista on their network and managed to connect and play with another person. Not on the internet, but just two people at home. I think I know of a solution, but it is soooo complicated I can't be bothered. I need a quicker solution. I am not a programmer any more and think this may be the skill needed to get this game working properly. Happy New Year everyone :)
